episode_0158

Naturally, everyone who saw the holy sword had a dumbfounded expression. If the person you suddenly met on the side of the road was a warrior, such a reaction would be normal.

“Well… If you are a hero, maybe you are with Arzen…”

Argen’s reputation seemed to be well-known, perhaps because it was still not that far from Eletrobe. Or maybe it is more famous because it is a dragon that harvests warriors.

“That’s right. I am traveling to resolve misunderstandings.”

I stopped talking to avoid saying something unnecessary and hit the player. There is nothing more embarrassing than trying to approach someone in a friendly way and the other person makes a mistake.

“Are you mistaken?”

They say that everything starts with a small step. I gave a moderately distorted explanation of the entire incident to these wagoners, who were only a small portion of humanity.

Since I didn’t want to tarnish the prestige of being a warrior, I dramatized the circumstances of how I made the pact with Arjen, and exaggerated my performance a little to add a little to the faith that gathered in me. It wasn’t an ‘appropriate’ distortion, but it would be better from Wayne’s perspective as well.

After embellishing his words appropriately, Wayne, who was caught while attacking Arjen and made a maiden graduation and a forced oath, ended up making an equal pact after mediation through the intervention of the newcomer ‘Eugene’ after a fierce battle. Arjen went berserk and as a result, Wayne gave humanity Akasha, who was the reason they had no choice but to turn their backs on him, had become the world’s biggest bastard.

“…In that way, Eugene returned to the dimension he originally lived in due to Akasha’s scheme, and reappeared 360 years later.”

I feel like my mouth is prickling as I keep adding honorifics after my own name. However, when hiding the truth, maintaining confidence was key.

“Then, the reason why Eletrobe was reduced to ruins so long ago…?”

“It was Arjen’s reckless behavior that led to the loss of Eugene. Naturally, Akasha couldn’t handle Arjen, who had the nickname “Right Dragon,” so she ran away, and has actually been living quietly since Eugene returned to this world. No, it’s not just meek, it’s actually growing crops around Lair and providing food to humanity through the rebuilt Eletrobe. You know this, right?”

“Yes… I also worked as a trader for those crops. The amount was incredible.”

I tried to empathize with the information the other person knew and subtly mixed in the main topic.

“The warrior helped me a lot with that too. In the first place, it was thanks to the hero that only the Eletrobe area was reduced to ruins instead of spreading to the entire continent. I tried really hard to calm Arjen down next to me.”

Of course it’s a lie. It was purely Arjen (Viola)’s will that kept her in her nest, believing in the extremely slim possibility that I might return. However, the story was so well completed that even I couldn’t smoothly separate what was true and what was false, so there was no room for the other person to have doubts.

“I can’t believe something like that happened… Then the hero worked for humanity for over 300 years…?”

Is that right? What I ultimately intended came out of the other person’s mouth. The whole point of making up a story like this was to let people know that Wayne had not betrayed humanity and defected, but was fulfilling his role as a warrior behind the scenes.

It goes without saying, but no matter how much I smeared my mouth with honey and spit out words like pure water, it was difficult to trust them 100% unless there was clear evidence. The core reason why this made-up story works is that Wayne can still hold the holy sword and use the power of a warrior.

No further evidence was needed given the fact that Stella, who was considered omnipotent among people, had been bestowing divine protection on Wayne. In addition, the little help given just now acted as a seasoning and made it feel just right.

“Ha….”

Even Wayne, who watched my tongue teasing skills live from the side, exclaimed in admiration. As the suturing was completely completed, an unexpected question arose.

“But how do you know the inside story of the matter so well?”

“That… I heard a vivid story from the warrior.”

Oh my, my confidence shouldn’t have diminished after coming this far, but my voice lost a bit of strength. Even though I answered this question, the question will still remain in the mind of the person who asked that question.

I had to open my mouth again before asking the second question, ‘So what are you doing and why did you ask the warrior in such detail?’

“I made a contract with a spirit and introduced myself as a spiritist, but my real job is actually a bard. A hero who turned his back on humanity and a new hero who never appears… I risked my life to visit Argen’s Lair because I thought there might be some hidden story behind it.”

A bard is someone who writes songs about heroic stories and tells them to people. After speaking out, I realized that I was a crazy person who risked his life to go to the Dragon’s Lair just to make a song.

In hindsight, I thought it would have been better to work as a reporter, but since the situation was so urgent, it had no choice. But somehow the response was better than expected.

“Oh, you were a bard?”

“To take such a risk… No matter how much of a spiritist you are, your life is precious.”

“Well… It’s not like I don’t understand it because the bards are such eccentric people. No, look at my mind. What a foolish thing to do to your benefactor…”

There is no need to be sorry. Rather, thank you for understanding me.

“Wow! So, did you by any chance write a song about the hero’s devotion?”

“Uh… yes?”

The second crisis has arrived. The topic of minstrelsy seemed to be quite attractive to them, so the conversation naturally shifted to the topic of minstrelsy.

“Oh, I’m still making it. It hasn’t been long since I heard this story.”

“I see. But how come you travel with the warrior…?”

Stop asking. It’s not like I’m interrogating you…

Of course, I couldn’t say something like that, so I came up with a suitable excuse. It’s impossible to say that Arjen was kicked out on good terms because she was pregnant.

“After hearing the whole story of the incident, I spoke to Arjen. In the world, the warrior is still considered a traitor. When I told him that I wanted to resolve the injustice, Arjen was convinced and told me to go with the warrior to resolve the injustice. I heard that it would be more persuasive if the warrior Jinjji was next to me rather than just talking about it alone.”

“I see… We’ll help you too!”

“Yes…?”

“Wouldn’t it be possible to tour the entire continent with the warrior?”

no. Now that I have 50 years, I can travel around as much as I want.

“We travel around here and know Arjen well, but there are many people who live beyond the mountains who don’t even know who made the grain that goes into their mouths. You may not believe the story about the hero. In such a situation, even if Eugene wrote lyrics about the warrior’s dedication, it wouldn’t be effective, right?”

“Well, right…?”

There was nothing I could say to refute, so I agreed. Even though, thinking about what happened later, it would have been right to shake my head even now.

“We will also spread the story. The truth of 360 years.”

I would have been very grateful if you could just get there.

“And also about Eugene’s song!”

“Oh, the song hasn’t even been made yet…? There is no need to go that far.”

“I heard that the person who starts the story is the most important. I know this well because a friend from my hometown is a bard. I will tell you through the trade route that a spiritist and bard named Eugene has created an amazing song!”

I desperately tried to suppress my hand instinctively reaching between my eyes. All of a sudden, I started writing lyrics and composing songs that I had no interest in doing.

“You have to repay the favor! You too, leave it to us! We will definitely do our best to clear up the misunderstandings about the hero among people across the continent!”

Do they know that they are not repaying with grace, but with vengeance? Of course you don’t know. That’s because my story is so well-made.

“Thank you…”

In order to provide consistency to the stories I have told so far, I had no choice but to grit my teeth and express my gratitude.

“……Ugh.”

After parting ways with the noisy cart merchants and being alone with Wayne again, I let out a sigh of relief. Wayne smiled slightly as he looked at me like that.

“Giggles… Who would make up such a grand story? There was no need for that…”

“Originally, I was only going to mix in small lies. When I mixed it with what actually happened, it started to snowball… Ha, how on earth do I come up with lyrics?”

“Are the lyrics the only problem? You have to compose the song, and you have to sing it yourself while performing the song you wrote and composed.”

“Composition is no problem.”

There were a lot of famous songs in my head that people here would never know. Of course, the source was Earth. Of course, since I did not major in music, I would have to get help from others to publish it as sheet music.

“And the song… Now that I think about it, I’ve never sung a song since I came here.”

I said that and sang a line of a ballad that was popular on Earth in front of Wayne. Wayne’s eyes widened when he heard that.

“Hehe, I like that reaction.”

I was so confident in my singing that I even sang at a university festival. Even if you are not a singer, you will have no trouble reciting poetry if you practice your vocal skills.

All that’s left is to play… um…

Fucked. There is no instrument I know how to play.